Sigma 150-600 mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM SPORTS owners thread

LowePro Flipside 400 for me too... Loads of room for the D750 and the lens (with the hood reversed) and I usually chuck in a standard lens or a macro as well just in case I find something else to shoot. :)

I managed to get out for a few hours today so I headed up to the forestry site at Bwlch Nant-yr-arian just outside of Aberystwyth. The light was dire and apart from the airborne shot, the other three were all taken at ISO 6400.

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Si these shots are stunning. I have been considering one as I am finding my fairly recently acquired 300mm F4 prime on my full frame body a bit short for wildlife. What lens did you come from before this Sigma you now have.
 
Glad I ordered my bag yesterday as the store put the price up £30.00 today! What good luck eh?
 
antc said:
Si these shots are stunning. I have been considering one as I am finding my fairly recently acquired 300mm F4 prime on my full frame body a bit short for wildlife. What lens did you come from before this Sigma you now have.
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Hi Anthony. Thanks for the compliment. :)

I used to shoot most of my wildlife stuff on a 5DMKIII and an EF300mm f/2.8 with 1.4x and 2x extenders before I switched to Nikon. I was a bit worried that this Sigma wouldn't come close to the performance of that old 300mm but surprisingly, it does... The AF is downright awesome and the weight and balance are similar. Obviously, the small apertures can be a bit of an issue but I use it on my D750 and I can shoot at ISO6400 with performance that I'm happy with.

If you get one, make sure you get the dock to go with it... The ability to fine-tune certain parameters makes the lens even more versatile.
Cheers,
Si
 
Spiritflier said:
Hi Anthony. Thanks for the compliment. :)

I used to shoot most of my wildlife stuff on a 5DMKIII and an EF300mm f/2.8 with 1.4x and 2x extenders before I switched to Nikon. I was a bit worried that this Sigma wouldn't come close to the performance of that old 300mm but surprisingly, it does... The AF is downright awesome and the weight and balance are similar. Obviously, the small apertures can be a bit of an issue but I use it on my D750 and I can shoot at ISO6400 with performance that I'm happy with.

If you get one, make sure you get the dock to go with it... The ability to fine-tune certain parameters makes the lens even more versatile.
Cheers,
Si
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Thanks Si,

Much appreciated mate. Yeah I have a 5DMKIII which I would be coupling this lens with. I see there are two versions of the lens, a C and an S. What makes the S better? I like the idea of the dock for fine tuning and changing certain settings, it looks to be a very flexible lens indeed. Pleased to hear AF is excellent.
 
antc said:
Thanks Si,

Much appreciated mate. Yeah I have a 5DMKIII which I would be coupling this lens with. I see there are two versions of the lens, a C and an S. What makes the S better? I like the idea of the dock for fine tuning and changing certain settings, it looks to be a very flexible lens indeed. Pleased to hear AF is excellent.
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You're welcome Anthony. :)

I only had a look at the 'C' and it didn't look as solid as the 'S'... I had mine out at the Wales Rally GB for an entire day in driving rain with no protection on it and it never missed a beat and believe me, that rain was incessant... It never stopped all day! I decided that the difference in price was justified given that I was planning on using it in all weathers and I've been seriously impressed with it. My Better Half bought me a set of neoprene camo covers for it for Christmas and they've added an extra layer of protection. I've little doubt that this lens will still be going strong in years to come. :)
 
I decided to give this lens another go after seeing one on Amazon for a decent price.
Arrived yesterday but not had a chance to play with it yet as the weather has been terrible.

BTW, excellent pics Si, certainly amongst the best I have seen with the lens.
 
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sunshine and shadows .jpg one of mine from the other day ,high contrast shadows and bright sun the lens and camera coped well
 
I managed a couple of test shots of the moon tonight, it was pretty low in the sky, but here are a couple of them. Taken with my 7D, handheld. No editing, no cropping, just saved with a different name and uploaded.

First at 400mm.

Moon 400mm by Stuart Delaney, on Flickr

Second at 600mm.

Moon 600mm by Stuart Delaney, on Flickr

Edit. Pics fixed. :)
 
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the weather is so bloody awful at the moment that i don't want to go out ,so heres one from back in the spring before the year went steadily downhill the shape of things to come .jpg
 
Anyone who has followed this thread from the beginning will know I bought one of these lenses in April last year and returned it after a few weeks due to it being (IMO) soft at the long end and lacking contrast. Anyway, thanks to Amazons I managed to pick up another copy at a decent price and so my testing begins again.

Few taken yesterday, these were taken in very iffy conditions and are mostly wide open just so I could get a reasonable shutter speed and low(ish) ISO

IMG_8510[1] by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

IMG_8590[1] by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

IMG_8630[1] by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

IMG_8500[1] by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

IMG_8488[1] by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr
 
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So what's your conclusion on this one Mike ,looks o.k to me ,there never gonna be a poor light lens but you have done well with these shots
 
I can shoot up to 3200 iso with the 1d3 but your always looking for extra ,I was really comparing to a f4 lens
 
one from early last year all downhill from here .jpg
 
I've attached a photo from today, my cat was about about 10 metres away. It's a crop of the main image, focal point was the right (closest) eye and has had a quick edit to slightly alter contrast and apply unsharp mask. It's the only photo I've taken with the lens so far that I've been approaching happiness with, but it's still lacking a bit of sharpness IMO.

IMG_4296 - Ringo - Edited by Stuart Delaney, on Flickr
 
Have you tuned it up via the USB hub yet stuart ,it looks far sharper on Flickr btw
 
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Not yet. The usb hub arrived at the weekend, I hope to get it hooked up this week. I'm sure I saw some settings to try with it somewhere in this thread. ;)
You think it's ok for sharpness/focus point ? I need some decent weather to let me try it out some more.
 
You can see every hair on the cat in good definition ,to improve on that at 600mm you would ave to pay several thousand pounds more .

The two main improvements with the dock are change focus to main focus point priority ,and set I.s to dynamic any other changes are user defined
 
the black fox said:
You can see every hair on the cat in good definition ,to improve on that at 600mm you would ave to pay several thousand pounds more .

The two main improvements with the dock are change focus to main focus point priority ,and set I.s to dynamic any other changes are user defined
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Thanks. I'm just wanting to be sure I don't have a 'bad copy' or that front/back focus wasn't needing adjusted. I was hoping you'd suggest some settings to apply through the dock so I'll get that done tonight or tomorrow.
 
To David no you need to apply it to either C1 or C2

Stuart wait till you get the dock it's fairly self explanatory just don't forget to write each change to the lens as you go ,I would also advise not making any micro adjust changes before using the dock ,I found that they weren't needed ,I drove myself mad for the first couple of months doing them till I plucked up the courage to use the dock and realised that zero was best option
 
one from today in lovely sunshine pebbles to .jpg
 
That's a cracker, lucky *** getting sunshine. It's been pretty dire in Norfolk for a few days now so no chance of getting out and about but you had it bad recently so you deserve a break.
 
Although these are great shots, in anything less than great conditions, it looks like it's very slightly soft and lacking contrast. Obviously you can't expect miracles for that price and it's a great lens for what it is...but I'm really really drooling over the Nikon 500mm f4 FL since it's only a about 200g more weight! The £6900 price difference is a pretty big deal though! My head says "you don't do anywhere near enough photography to justify an £8000+ lens!!! Go for the Sigma!" but my heart says "If you get the Sigma you'll potentially be unhappy with a lot of your shots and want more!!". Sometimes I hate photography :p
 
htid said:
Although these are great shots, in anything less than great conditions, it looks like it's very slightly soft and lacking contrast. Obviously you can't expect miracles for that price and it's a great lens for what it is...but I'm really really drooling over the Nikon 500mm f4 FL since it's only a about 200g more weight! The £6900 price difference is a pretty big deal though! My head says "you don't do anywhere near enough photography to justify an £8000+ lens!!! Go for the Sigma!" but my heart says "If you get the Sigma you'll potentially be unhappy with a lot of your shots and want more!!". Sometimes I hate photography :p
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My lads selling an nikon 500 f4 for a good price ,p.m me if interested ,he's coming back into the canon fold
 
just larking about .jpg another shot from yesterday ,skylark this time
 
the black fox said:
My lads selling an nikon 500 f4 for a good price ,p.m me if interested ,he's coming back into the canon fold
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Unfortunately all of them except the FL seem to be too heavy for normal use. The normal one is 3.8kg and the FL version 3kg. That 800g makes a difference I expect, after a day of carrying it!
 
May sound a bit of a daft question....

Do you have to switch on OS for it to work in the C1 / C2 modes ?
 
I wondered that myself after hooking it uptp the dock. But yeh, you still need to switch the OS button on. All you do with the C1 / C2 modes is change the OS mode, it's not permanently enabled.
 
mrgubby said:
May sound a bit of a daft question....

Do you have to switch on OS for it to work in the C1 / C2 modes ?
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yes i believe you do ,though never tested that (don't know if you can anyway) as a matter of interest and i think i can see where this is leading ,i leave everything exactly the same i.e C1 or C2 when using a tripod even with a gimbal head ,seems to work o.k as far as i can see .
 
The question was sparked because I'd managed to convince myself that the OS worked with just C1 before I updated the firmware......
 
a testing time .jpg now heres something of REAL interest,today i had a chance to borrow one of the new KENKO DGX HD 1.4 tc ,it worked fine on the sigma and also coupled to my 1D mkiii ,now i have owned a canon mk2 tc in the past and got rid because it restricted you to centre point only ,so at just over £100 i thought one of these would be a good option ,whilst playing with it i accidentally knocked my joystick control and lo and behold it enables ALL FOCUS POINTS even the ring of fire a/f ,one of these is now on my priority wish list sample image below at 840mm tripod mounted ,ducks in flight hand held at 840mm ring of fire a/f used whats it all about .jpg
 
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That's my findings to Matt it seems to work even better when it shouldn't work at all ?
 
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